If you’re having trouble with unwanted calls, start by pressing the Call Screening button on your Pixel phone for unknown calls – Mobile Watch

It’s been about the last six months or so. I’ve started receiving a lot of automated voice poll requests on the phone number on my main smartphone that I use for work.

Since my phone number is listed on my business card, I will occasionally receive phone calls to confirm my attendance at presentations, etc. It is difficult to completely ignore calls from unknown numbers.

So, in practical terms, I decided to answer calls that tell me my number as usual, but ignore or reject calls that don’t tell me my number even if I notice them in real time. Although it’s just a small step, we’ve taken our measures against spam calls one step further.

However, this small change in state of mind led to a much greater change in behavior. I’ve started using the Pixel 7 Pro’s built-in Call Screening feature very actively.

That’s when I received a call from an unknown number. I thought it was another poll anyway, so I tried to block the call, but then I noticed a “(Check connection)” button on the screen. Yes, this is supposed to be a new feature on Pixel smartphones. I tried to screen the call, thinking that if it was a hidden number, I would have no problem missing some formalities.

Screenshot of an incoming call on a Pixel. This isn’t a mystery caller, but a family member, but there’s a Check button.

The screen will then change, and although you will not be able to hear the other party’s voice, the real-time speech content will be displayed on the screen. As expected, it appears to have been an automated poll related to the election.

There was supposed to be a guidance voice coming from the Pixel’s side saying, “The person you’re calling is using Google’s call screening function…”, but I ignored it and lazily continued. I can confirm from the text that they kept saying things like, “Please complete the questionnaire.”

The feel of this reproduction is really refreshing. Just as the resolution of an image changes completely depending on whether you are viewing it on a smartphone screen or zooming in on a large TV screen, the impression you get is completely different when listening to an annoying call out loud or reading it written using advanced artificial intelligence. Yes.

Rather, it’s more like, “Oh, the other party’s voice scanning device (I think it’s recording the entire conversation) doesn’t change its response depending on whether Google’s call screening is on… oh well.” That mysterious “view from above” is on (lol). It’s not that I’m amazing at all.

This is the actual scan result (the dates and some words have been divided into mosaics). You can’t hear the other party’s voice, and only the text is displayed clearly.

This call screening feature is a Pixel feature… or rather, it’s a feature of Google’s own “Phone” app that can only be installed on Pixel smartphones.

There’s basically no settings required, and if you have the latest version of the app installed, a ‘Scan’ button will appear when you receive a call, so just tap it when you want to use it. It’s okay to judge based on your mood the moment you receive a phone call.

By the way, the Phone app has a function that detects whether an incoming phone number is spam or not, and you can set this to on or off beforehand. It would be a good idea to look at this and decide whether or not you want to screen the call while the call is coming in.

Call screening settings include choosing between two types of answering sound (female tone and male tone).Turn on manually for each incoming call

Aside from the call screening feature, there is also the ability to determine whether a call is spam or not or block calls that appear to be spam altogether.

While the transcription is in progress in real time (while the line is connected), you can ask additional questions using standard phrases on the Pixel side (the other party can hear the audio being read by Google Assistant), or return to the original call after watching the transcription. You can also…

When you hear all this, you might think it’s like a text answering machine, but at least in the current situation, transcription can only be started if you manually press the “scan” button, so the ease of use is a little different (in the US)Automatic scanning is possible).

Result of the author’s voice check (the speech bubble on the left is a transcription of the author’s voice). Almost exactly accurate. While text is displayed, you can also send standard audio to the other end of your Pixel device. “Is there something you need urgently?” It is exactly that standard phrase.

Another important point is that call screening logs are integrated into the “Phone” app history. For example, a few months after receiving a spam call, if you look at your call log and see a mysterious number, press it. After that, you can check the transcription at that time immediately.

It’s a very boring feature to try to explain in an article, but it’s really clever and useful. If you are not sure whether to report an unwanted number immediately, you can later make the decision with a calm eye, and you can anticipate the development by keeping it in the data.

You can also review the transcripts later on the call history screen.

These multi-functional features have become a big part of my taste, and lately I’ve been using them not only when I receive a call from a hidden number, but also when it’s an international call with a country code I’ve never seen before, and when I receive a call from a country code I’ve never seen before. We try hard to screen calls for calls that show up as “This may be a potential call.”

So far there have been no complaints or actual damage. Well, there is a possibility that you have lost the trust of two or three business partners who were already doing business with you… However, since nuisance calls have become a social problem, we ask for your understanding.

If you’re a Pixel user and have never tried call screening, it’s a real waste. It’s best to not receive any spam calls, but just like spam emails, once they escalate, they’re difficult to normalize. In fact, thanks to this scanning function, I feel a little nervous.

You don’t need to screen every incoming call. I think one way to do this is to start little by little, like I did, by only calling anonymously, or only when I feel like it.